In Seaside, Patrick presented two learning/training workshops at the annual conference of the Oregon Association of Municipal Recorders. An extra special treat was Patrick’s son, 10 year old Maximiliano, joined his Dad for the conference and introduced him, as well. It was very special for both Patrick and Maximiliano.

Patrick facilitated a strategic planning goal-setting workshop for the Mayor and Town Council in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.

In San Jose, at the League of California Cities Annual Conference, Patrick presented a session on “Government’s Crucial Employer Brand.”

Patrick designed and facilitated an Advance meeting with the Executive Leadership Team of the City of Maricopa, Arizona resulting in a series of targeted action steps to strengthen leadership effectiveness and build an even stronger community.

The digital wave is at full strength and its impact on government continues. The fastest, emerging trend is how mobile applications help government agencies improve efficiencies, serve citizens more effectively, and make decisions faster. SeeClickFix has become the “gold standard” for public sector agencies serious about improving the customer experience.

When Mayor Frank Ortis of Pembroke Pines, FL attended the 2014 National League of Cities conference, he was looking for a solution to his city’s growing graffiti problem. “I was going out to dinner with my lovely wife,” Mayor Ortis said, “And every time I went to dinner I’d stop when I’d see graffiti, a light out, or something — and jot it down. And my wife says, ‘Can’t we just go out to dinner?’

According to the recent article “Slowly but surely, Government IT enters the 21st Century”, author Jon Brodkin writes “Government IT departments have a mostly deserved reputation for being behind the times. While private companies keep giving customers new and better ways to buy products and learn about their services, government agencies have generally made it difficult for residents to interact with them via the Internet. But this is slowly changing, with agencies from the local level to the federal level focusing on fixing broken websites and building new tools for Americans to get what they need from the government.”

Mayor Ortis was proud to be the eyes of Pembroke Pines — but he needed a way to locate and address as many issues in his city as possible. When Mayor Ortis left the conference, he left with a solution: SeeClickFix.

SeeClickFix is a mobile and web platform that allows citizens to report non-emergency issues to their local government. The platform allows citizens to play an integral role in public services — routing these neighborhood concerns like potholes and light outages to the right official with the right information. As Mayor Ortis said, “So I saw SeeClickFix [at the National League of Cities 2014], brought it back. It’s an inexpensive application for IT guys to put together. And now I have thousands of eyes — 167,000 people in Pembroke Pines.”

For the citizen, the process of reporting a problem in your neighborhood can be problematic, confusing and opaque. Connecting with the correct agency is tedious and once you have, receiving updates on your concern is even more difficult. This process is so broken that most citizens simply give up. By the way, remember not to interpret silence as affirmation of a job well done. Unfortunately, due to the bureaucratic gravity that can vaporize your existing customer complain/inquiry system your agency may only hear from those citizens insistent about having their issue resolved.

For governments, routing problems to the right place, with the right information can be equally as painful. Typically, the process will involve a handful of departments, phone calls, sticky notes, and excel spreadsheets. Inevitably, problems fall through the cracks. If the problem gets to the right place, it is even more difficult to update the citizen on progress, and thus, frustrated citizens often escalate concerns to elected officials who put further pressure on officials to improve service.

SeeClickFix solves this problem by providing cities an integrated platform for service request collection and management.

Citizens submit requests via SeeClickFix mobile apps and website tools — city call takers enter phone calls, drop ins, emails and tweets into the SeeClickFix as well. From there, these requests are routed either manually or automatically based on location and request type, to the right person with the right information. “A lot of people are using it, downloading it free on their phones. They see something wrong: they click it, brief description, send it to me (I get a copy),” said Mayor Ortis.

Then, city staff will be notified within SeeClickFix (or an external work order system via integration) that work has been assigned. As the work is updated and subsequently closed, the citizen will receive automatic updates. “Then [the issue] goes right to the department that fixes it, and we keep in touch with that resident.” said Mayor Ortis, “It is a win-win for our city.”

This “win-win” result is that SeeClickFix increases the total level of citizen participation as well as the perceived quality of these services while reducing the costs associated with these services by reducing phone calls, introducing automated responses and reducing the frictional costs of communication.

“Remember — one broken window — that’s all it takes,” said Mayor Ortis, “SeeClickFix fixes that. We used to have a tremendous graffiti problem. Now we’ve eradicated it with SeeClickFix. Because we get it, the property owner has to fix it within 24 hours or we’ll go there and fix it and charge them. So, with SeeClickFix, don’t be afraid! Use it — your residents will love it, and you’ll love it.”

Over the last few months, our team has consulted with different organizations of various sizes.

Patrick launched a review of the Recruitment and Selection processes for the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Patrick designed and facilitated an Advance meeting with the Executive Leadership Team(s) of the City of Brighton, Colorado and Chehalis, Washington resulting in a series of targeted action steps to strengthen leadership effectiveness and build an even stronger community.

In May, Patrick facilitated a group discovery session for the Human Resource Department of Maricopa County, Arizona.

Patrick facilitated the annual budget goal-setting session for the Mayor and City Council of the City of San Antonio, Texas.

Patrick presented “Your Leadership Playbook” in Seattle, at the annual conference of the FBI National Academy Associates.

In June, Patrick presented his “Innovation in the Public Sector”, for the University of Texas, LBJ School of Public Affairs, Management Development Program offered in San Antonio.

In June, Patrick facilitated a strategic planning advance for the City of Brookings, South Dakota.

In Yakima, Washington, on behalf of the Council of Governments, Patrick presented “A Sense of Place: Building a Community in the 21st Century.”

Patrick presented two supervisory training/learning workshops for the City of Hurst, Texas.

In June and July, Patrick facilitated group discover sessions for a series of internal administrative departments for the City of Richland, Washington.

Patrick facilitated a Team Building/Group Development session for the Public Works Department(s) of the City of Mountlake Terrace, Washington and City of Pasadena, California.

How do leaders who want to build their 21st-century workforce leverage emerging workplace trends? First recognize “business as usual is over” and discard old models in favor of progressive and practical strategies and tools to attract, retain, and optimize talent — especially as it relates to establishing a robust career management program for employees.

The convergence of workforce trends impacting the landscape for public sector employment is unprecedented. The five major workforce trends that affect public-sector organizations, and their employees include:

The accelerated rate of retirements creating what is referred to as the “Silver Tsunami.”

The lingering effects of the Great Recession on budgets allocated for salaries and wages, which have grown incrementally at most.

According to recent research conducted of graduating college seniors, government received the most votes of their top three preferred industries for starting their careers.

There is an uptick in state and local government hiring.

The disruption to the historical arrangement between employer and employee often referred to as “Life Time Employment” in which the employer provides stable employment, attractive benefits, and wages in exchange for an employee’s effort and tenure. The impact of this trend has been experienced most acutely in the public sector as it concerns attracting and retaining top performers.

It is critical to acknowledge that a number after a job title, for instance, Accountant II or Maintenance Worker 4, does not a career step make, but is more often a compensation level.

Career management is not simply accumulating years of service or increasing one’s technical proficiency, both of which are assumptions often made by the public sector in making decisions about employee advancement. The dimension receiving increasing attention for career advancement is the development of non-technical skills. These are often referred to as “soft” skills, when in fact they are the hardest skills for employees to acquire, and are essential to succeeding in supervisory and management positions.

Moreover, the concept of a career is transitioning from the traditional ladder of upward mobility, to more of a lattice where employees move in different directions. Today’s employees might move up, sideways, or both — gaining essential skills and experiences to keep pace in today’s quickly changing workplace.

Openings for upward mobility are just part of the equation for retaining your top performers. Many cities and towns have limited ability to promote employees due to a small workforce and infrequent job openings. Creating and implementing a forward-looking career management strategy for your city or town is essential to keeping your top performers. The components of this strategy might include:

Career Resource Center – Institute a career counseling process for employees who are interested in advancement. Career counseling can help employees determine which skills to develop to prepare for future promotional opportunities. Career counseling might include a competency assessment and employee development plan with recommended training or courses. In addition, this could be a precursor to an in-depth career path that would outline steps and competencies required for supervisory or management positions.

Learning Program – If not already in place, develop a series of learning courses that equip employees with the requisite leadership, management, and supervisory skills. Incorporate traditional topics such as managing employee feedback, business writing, communication skills, and delegation, as well as emerging topics like leading change, innovation, and performance management.

Mentoring – Establish a pool of employees who are willing to share their knowledge with others. A mentoring program is an easy and inexpensive way to effectively transfer tacit knowledge about city operations from senior to junior employees, as well as support employees who want to further their knowledge and skills for career advancement.

Growth – Your employees will position themselves for future opportunities not just by learning new skills and actively engaging in a mentoring partnership, but also by participating in a series of targeted employee development activities. For instance, rotating job assignments, “acting” roles, and shadowing are attractive to top performers who want to stretch themselves.

Implementing these four components of a career management program will allow your employees to create a career path from any starting point. They can discover qualities about themselves, develop skills, find a mentor, and tackle new assignments.

Leaders who are intentional about ensuring the delivery of high-quality public services for their citizens will pay attention to workforce trends, and target their organization’s time, budget and effort in establishing a career management program for employees.

Over the last few months, our team has consulted with different organizations of various sizes.

Patrick designed and facilitated an Advance meeting with the Executive Leadership Team of the City of Littleton, Colorado resulting in a series of targeted action steps to strengthen the workplace culture.

Patrick designed and facilitated an Advance meeting with the Executive Leadership Team of the City of Portland, Texas resulting in a series of targeted action steps to strengthen leadership effectiveness and build an even stronger community.

On March 17 and 20, Patrick presented two sessions at the annual conference of the Washington Municipal Clerks Association.

On March 18 and 19, Patrick presented two workshops “Next Government Workforce” and “Government: Brought To You By” at the Local Government Leadership Forum co-sponsored by the Association of Washington Cities and the Washington Cities Insurance Authority.

Patrick presented two supervisory training/learning workshops for the City of Hurst, Texas.

On March 30th, in Savannah, Georgia Patrick delivered the keynote address “Revolutionizing Government in the 21st Century” at the National Public Employer Labor Relations Association Annual Conference.

In Chandler, Arizona, Patrick launched the second Pilot Group focused on Leadership Development. The cohort group of ten aspiring managers completed training workshops Patrick presented on “Transitions,” “The Art of Delegation,” “Managing Employee Performance” and “Building Great Work Teams.” The program wraps up in May with the final two workshops. The third cohort group will begin their program later this year in September.

On April 22, Patrick presented his “Innovation and Creativity” training workshop as part of the Southern California Local Government Leadership Academy.

In Scottsdale, Arizona Patrick started a workplace assessment of the City’s Solid Waste Department.

Patrick facilitated a Team Building/Group Development session for the Public Works Department of the Town of Queen Creek, Arizona.

Spring is often filled with elections. There’s an old saying which states it only takes one new elected official to change the complexion and focus of the governing body. Those staff members who partner with elected officials in shaping communities, may find the experience both incredibly exhilarating and downright frustrating, all in the same day!

Let me remind you of the three maxims that pertain to government : First, the length of a public meeting by the governing body is in inverse proportion to the length of the agenda – the longer the agenda the shorter the meeting and the shorter the agenda the longer the meeting; Second, the length of the discussion by the governing body is in inverse proportion to the dollar amount of the agenda item being considered for adoption – the larger the dollar amount the shorter the discussion and the smaller the dollar amount the longer the discussion; and Third, always remember, the first rule after being elected is to be re-elected and a politician is re-elected for saying yes to constituents instead of no.

Before I started my professional career in local government management, where I served for 15 years and prior to establishing the Mejorando Group in 2002, my first internship was with Mayor Terry Goddard of Phoenix, Arizona. I learned a great deal as a 23 year-old, that helped me immensely in partnering with elected officials during my career in city management and as a consultant. As a result of working in and for local government for almost thirty years, I want to share my Four Answers on How to Succeed at the Politics of Government

1) Communicate, Communicate, Communicate – but it’s not just overloading elected officials with tons of data and meeting after meeting. Instead convert all those numbers, most of which are outputs, into a story. By and large, elected officials are not number, but are people-centric and would prefer to find out about operational challenges, policy matters and budgetary constraints in a story format that always includes options. Remember for elected officials the first option is not to do anything. If you give elected officials only one option, they often resent it and never forget it, Abide by the adage that “less is more.” Less means information is presented concisely and in such a way that helps the elected official make better decisions.

2) Be a Credible Advisor – most elected officials in the U.S. are part-time and have lives outside their role as a City Councilperson or County Commissioner. Typically, they are reluctant to make a public announcement about those subjects that confuse them or those where they’re not sure what to do. Consequently, they expect staff members, top to bottom, to have empathy for them even when they often don’t reciprocate. Regardless of your role in government, when you signed up as a paid professional, you accepted that democracy was messy and sometimes baffling. It’s your responsibility to provide solid and professional advice, to anticipate what elected officials may not understand and provide counsel and advice in such a way they can utilize it. Help them make good decisions and they often remember it, and will contact you more and more for that counsel. Words to live by – you’re not the audience for your message. While in city management, I thought the City Council was pregnant, they didn’t know it and it was my job to induce labor. In other words, I had to help them think these ideas I was presenting were good and actually theirs, so they would join in and support them It’s not about being manipulative but recognizing the dimensions of your ever-changing role.

3) Demonstrate Political Acumen. Pride and poise often collide when politicians sometimes make decisions that cause you to scratch your head. Don’t become too distraught when elected officials make a decision you don’t support. Part of being a professional means you understand very well your role and appreciate that elected officials are accountable to the voting public. In my consulting practice, I gain valuable insight not in how a group agrees, but how they disagree. Is it cordial and collegial or not?4) Stay in your Lane. It may be tempting when an elected official seeks you out and wants to take you into his/her confidence and possibly make promises if you do…but this is like playing with matches. You do so at your own risk. Politicians place an extremely high value on loyalty and can sometimes want staff to teeter on that fine line. Handle those encounters with tact and diplomacy.

Flame Starters are catalysts for change and have an insatiable appetite for growth. You’ve worked your entire career to be at this point right now to conquer the challenges in front of you! Public service is a noble profession and pressure is a privilege. I have prepared a list of incredible resources to accelerate your journey to, in the spirit of Mejorando, “get better all the time.”

You must be vigilant in moistening your mind to challenge long-held assumptions that can serve as a straitjacket to change. Lubricating your mind helps increase its elasticity and permits you to do things different and do different things! Don’t be concerned with the source for new ideas, remember, you’re an adventurer, experiencing the world through all your senses. Consuming content that is inconsistent with how we see the world is good for us. Remember, growth and comfort don’t co-exist!

After I speak at a conference or present a workshop, I always offer to send these resources to those interested and then I realized, why not share it with all 3,500 people who receive my newsletter. I can attest to each of the items on this list – for their relevance, impact and immediate benefit. They all have value and while there’s no solitary factor, cumulatively they generate an enormous impact helping you pivot your mindset.

These resources are fundamental in shaping my thinking, trying to help leaders translate headwinds into a tailwind. Topics include Leadership, Change, Marketing, Culture, and Innovation.

Time to live in the dis-comfort zone and illuminate your mind!

I’m always looking to add new items to the list, so if you have a resource you’d like me to consider putting, send it to me via email at patrick@gettingbetterallthetime.com.